BRIEFING PAPER Number 06113, 25 June 2015 Apprenticeship Statistics: England By James Mirza-Davies Inside: 1. Overview of apprenticeships in England 2. Apprenticeship starts 3. Apprenticeship achievements and participation www.parliament.uk/commons-library intranet.parliament.uk/commons-library papers@parliament.uk @commonslibrary
Number 06113, 25 June 2015 2 Contents Summary 3 1. Overview of apprenticeships in England 4 2. Apprenticeship starts 5 2.1 Starts since 1997 5 2.2 By age 6 2.3 Starts by qualification level 7 2.4 Starts by sector 8 2.5 Starts by framework 9 2.6 Starts by gender 9 3. Apprenticeship achievements and participation 10 3.1 Achievements 10 3.2 Participation 10 Contributing Authors: James Mirza-Davies, Economic Policy and Statistics Cover page image copyright: Made by Apprentices Reception by National Apprenticeship Service. Licensed under CC BY 2.0 / image cropped.
3 Apprenticeship Statistics: England Summary This Briefing Paper provides statistics on apprenticeships in England. In the 2013/14 academic year: There were 440,000 apprenticeship starts in England, 70,000 fewer than the previous year. The number of starts by people aged 25 and over fell by 69,000 compared with the previous year. The number of starts by people aged 24 and under was about the same as in 2012/13. The majority of apprenticeships were in the service sectors. Almost three quarters of starts were in three sectors: business, administration & law; health, public services & care and retail & commercial enterprise. 53% of apprenticeships started were by women (233,000) and 47% by men (207,000). Between 9/10 and 2010/11 there was a particularly large increase in the number of apprenticeship starts, much of it driven by apprentices aged 25 and over. Constituency data on apprenticeship starts is available in the spreadsheet accompanying this Commons Briefing Paper.
Number 06113, 25 June 2015 4 1. Overview of apprenticeships in England Skills and training are devolved policy areas and this Briefing Paper deals only with apprenticeship statistics for England. 1 Apprenticeships are paid jobs that incorporate on and off the job training. A successful apprentice will qualify with a nationally recognised qualification on completion of their contract. The Government has set a target of 3 million new apprenticeships over the course of this Parliament. The Government announced in the 2015 Queen s Speech, that it would create a duty for the Government to report on the progress to meeting the target in the Full Employment and Welfare Benefits Bill. 2 Constituency data on apprenticeship starts is available in the spreadsheet accompanying this Commons Briefing Paper. 1 Data in this paper is taken from the FE Data Library. 2 Cabinet Office, Queen s Speech 2015: background briefing notes, 27 May 2015
5 Apprenticeship Statistics: England 2. Apprenticeship starts 2.1 Starts since 1997 There were 440,400 apprenticeship starts in the 2013/14 academic year, 69,800 (14%) below the number of starts in the previous year. Apprenticeship starts, thousands 600 500 400 * Data for 2014/15 are for August to April only. Data prior to 2/03 is not directly comparable to later years. Data from 2011/12 onwards is not directly comparable to earlier years. Small technical changes have been made leading to a reduction in overall learner numbers of approximately 2 percent. Figures are rounded to the nearest hundred. Figures prior to 2/03 are rounded to the nearest thousand. Data are for academic years (August 1st to July 31st) and HC Deb 14 Feb 2011 c560-1w (PQ38062) There were 374, apprenticeship starts between August and April in the 2014/15 academic year. Between 9/10 and 2010/11 there was a large jump in the number of apprenticeship starts, increasing by 63% from 279,700 to 457,. Apprenticeship starts in England, thousands 09/10 10/11 11/12 12/13 13/14 14/15* Starts 280 457 521 510 440 374 * Data for 2014/15 are for August to April only. Data from 2011/12 onwards is not directly comparable to earlier years. Small technical changes have been made leading to a reduction in overall learner numbers of approximately 2 percent.
Number 06113, 25 June 2015 6 2.2 By age The chart below shows apprenticeship starts for academic years since 2/03. Before 4/05, apprenticeships were not available for people over the age of 24. Apprenticeship starts by age, thousands 600 500 400 25+ 19-24 Under 19 * Data for 2014/15 are for August to January only Academic years (August 1st to July 31st) The growth in the number of apprenticeships since 9/10 has been largely driven by an increase in the number of apprenticeship starts by people aged 25 and over. The other age groups have seen smaller over the same period. Apprenticeship starts by age, thousands Level 09/10 10/11 11/12 12/13 13/14 14/15* Under 19 117 132 130 115 120 79 19-24 114 143 161 165 159 81 25+ 49 182 229 230 162 89 Proportion Under 19 42% 29% 25% 22% 27% 32% 19-24 41% 31% 31% 32% 36% 33% 25+ 18% 40% 44% 45% 37% 36% Data from 2011/12 onwards is not directly comparable to earlier years. Small technical changes have been made leading to a reduction in overall learner numbers of approximately 2 per cent Proportion is the percentage of all apprenticeship starts made by an age group. Data are for academic years (August 1st to July 31st) Between 2012/13 and 2013/14 there was a 30% fall in the number of apprenticeship starts by people aged 25 and over. This was partly caused by the introduction of Advanced Learning loans which affected apprentices aged 24 and over studying at Level 3 and above. Advanced Learning loans were the first example of apprentices being expected to contribute to the cost of their own learning and were ended in January 2014 after low take up. More detailed age breakdowns are available from the BIS FE Data Library.
7 Apprenticeship Statistics: England 2.3 Starts by qualification level Apprenticeships can be studied at different qualification levels: Intermediate Apprenticeships are Level 2 qualifications, equivalent to 5 GCSE passes; Advanced Apprenticeships are Level 3 qualifications equivalent to 2 A-Level passes; Higher Apprenticeships lead to Level 4 qualifications and above. Apprenticeship starts by qualification level are shown in the chart below. The majority of apprenticeship starts are for Intermediate Level apprenticeships. Apprenticeship starts by level (thousands) 600 500 400 0 Higher Advanced Intermediate * Data for 2014/15 are for August to January only Academic years (August 31st to July 31st) The number of Intermediate Level apprenticeship starts has more than doubled since 2/03, while the number of Advanced Level apprenticeship starts has almost tripled. There were large increases in the number of starts between 9/10 and 2010/11 for both Intermediate and Advanced Level apprenticeships. Higher Level apprenticeships did not exist before 6/07. There were 9, Higher Level apprenticeship starts in 2013/14, 2% of all starts. Apprenticeship starts by level, thousands Level 09/10 10/11 11/12 12/13 13/14 14/15* Intermediate 191 301 329 293 287 146 Advanced 88 154 188 208 145 91 Higher 2 2 4 10 9 7 Proportion Intermediate 68% 66% 63% 57% 65% 60% Advanced 31% 34% 36% 41% 33% 37% Higher 1% 0% 1% 2% 2% 3% Data from 2011/12 onwards is not directly comparable to earlier years. Small technical changes have been made leading to a reduction in overall learner numbers of approximately 2 per cent Proportion is the percentage of all apprenticeship starts made at each level. Data are for academic years (August 1st to July 31st)
Number 06113, 25 June 2015 8 2.4 Starts by sector There was an increase in the number of people starting apprenticeships in nearly all broad sectors between 9/10 and 2013/14, with the exception of construction, planning & the built environment and leisure, travel & tourism. Apprenticeship starts by sector subject area, thousands 09/10 10/11 11/12 12/13 13/14 14/15* Business, Administration & Law 77 134 165 160 126 105 Health, Public Services & Care 44 90 109 123 109 93 Retail & Commercial Enterprise 62 103 108 101 87 66 Engineering & Manufacturing 43 55 70 66 65 60 Construction, Planning & Built 21 22 14 14 16 16 ICT 13 20 19 14 13 11 Leisure, Travel & Tourism 15 22 20 14 11 10 Agriculture, Horticulture & Animal 6 7 8 7 7 6 Education & Training 1 4 8 8 5 6 Arts, Media & Publishing 0 1 1 1 1 1 Science & Mathematics - 0 0 0 0 0 * Data for 2014/15 are for August to April only. Data from 2011/12 onwards is not directly comparable to earlier years. Small technical changes have been made leading to a reduction in overall learner numbers if approximately 2 per cent Data are for academic years (August 1st to July 31st) Under 500 people started an apprenticeship in Science and Mathematics for every academic year since 9/10. More than half (53%) of all apprenticeship starts in 2013/14 were in the business administration sector or the health, public service & care sector. Including retail & commercial enterprises the top three sectors made up almost three-quarters (73%) of apprenticeship starts in 2013/14. Apprenticeship starts by sector subject, thousands England (2013/14) Science & Mathematics Arts, Media & Publishing Education & Training Agriculture, Horticulture & Animal Care Leisure, Travel & Tourism ICT Construction, Planning & Built Engineering & Manufacturing Retail & Commercial Enterprise Health, Public Services & Care Business, Administration & Law 0 50 150
9 Apprenticeship Statistics: England 2.5 Starts by framework The table below breaks down apprenticeship starts further, showing the 20 most popular apprenticeship frameworks in 2013/14. Generally, the most popular frameworks were the same as for 2012/13, but there have been some notable changes since 9/10. Health and Social Care (5th to 1st) and Management (11th to 3rd) have both risen up the list. Apprenticeship starts by framework, thousands 20 most popular frameworks in 2013/14 09/10 10/11 11/12 12/13 13/14 14/15* Health and Social Care 18 54 71 81 70 61 Business Administration 27 39 45 49 44 37 Management 10 30 45 48 33 30 Hospitality and Catering 21 30 36 36 32 24 Customer Service 29 54 59 45 31 23 Children's Care Learning & Devel. 20 27 26 26 24 16 Retail 17 41 31 25 17 11 Engineering 15 18 13 14 16 15 Construction Skills 14 16 14 14 16 16 Industrial Applications 1 4 19 15 15 12 Hairdressing 16 16 17 16 15 11 IT and Telecoms Professionals 8 12 12 9 10 8 Active Leisure and Learning 11 18 16 12 9 7 Vehicle Maintenance and Repair 10 9 8 8 9 7 Warehousing and Storage 3 6 7 7 7 6 Accountancy 5 7 8 8 7 7 Electrotechnical 5 6 5 5 5 5 MES Plumbing 5 5 4 5 5 5 Public Services 2 1 3 4 4 5 Sales and Telesales 2 2 4 4 4 3 * Data for 2014/15 are for August to April only. Data are for academic years (August 1st to July 31st). 2.6 Starts by gender Since 2010/11 more apprenticeships starts have been by women than men. 53% (232,900) of starts in 2013/14 were by women. Apprenticeship starts by gender, thousands 250 150 Women Men 50 0 02/03 03/04 04/05 05/06 06/07 07/08 08/09 09/10 10/11 11/12 12/13 13/14 Academic years (1st August - 31 July)
Number 06113, 25 June 2015 10 3. Apprenticeship achievements and participation As well as statistics on apprenticeship starts, data are also available on the number of people who complete an apprenticeship (achievements) and the number of people who were on an apprenticeship in a given year (participation). 3.1 Achievements Apprenticeship achievements followed a similar trend to starts, increasing up to 2011/12. There were 253,500 achievements in 2013/14, up 3,500 on the previous year. Apprenticeship achievements, thousands 250 150 50 0 05/06 06/07 07/08 08/09 09/10 10/11 11/12 12/13 13/14 * Data for 2014/15 are for August to January only Academic years (August 1st to July 31st) 3.2 Participation Apprenticeship participation has also increased since 9/10. There were 851,500 people on an apprenticeship in 2013/14, compared to 868,700 a year earlier. Apprenticeship participation, thousands 1,000 900 800 700 600 500 400 0 * Data for 2014/15 are for August to January only Academic years (August 1st to July 31st)
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